The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has released its annual report for the 2017/18 fiscal year, saying women now hold 40 per cent of leadership positions on CMF-funded TV productions.
“Inspired by ongoing efforts to improve representation in the screen-based sector, we took a number of important measures in 2017-2018 to advance gender balance and Indigenous representation in Canada’s audiovisual industry,” said Valerie Creighton, president and CEO. “New gender requirements introduced last fiscal mandated broadcasters to allocate a minimum of 15 per cent and a target of 25 per cent of their Performance Envelopes on projects where 40 per cent of key roles were filled by women. Over 80 per cent of broadcasters reached or exceeded the 25 per cent target. As a result, over 40 per cent of key roles in 2017-2018 CMF-funded television projects are now filled by women.”
In 2017-2018, CMF funding triggered $1.4B in production activity across the country. Every $1 of CMF funding generated $4.14 in production activity – the highest leverage ratio since the CMF was created in 2010.
The CMF’s funding programs contributed $342.3M to financing the development, production and promotion of 1,176 television and digital media projects in 2017-2018.
The last fiscal year also marked the launch of CMF’s YouTube channel Encore+ in November, featuring iconic Canadian films and television programs. CMF says discussions have been undertaken with existing partners Google Canada, Bell Media, Deluxe Toronto, Telefilm Canada, service providers, rights’ holders, and others to ensure the project’s longevity.
As a result of work to identify industry and market trends in the screen-based sector, the CMF also continues to publish industry reports and in-depth articles on its CMF Trends website.
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